Progress made on unsafe buildings in Topeka

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January 17, 2013 - 2:18pm

A special Topeka Town Council meeting brought together the owners of the buildings on the northeast corner of Main and Lake streets Wednesday afternoon, which ended in an agreement on how to move forward with the long-running issue of the unsafe buildings at that location.

According to town attorney Bill Eberhard, the meeting ended with an agreement that the buildings are unsafe and need to come down. It was also agreed that there is a common wall between 106 and 108 N. Main St. It has been the issue of the common wall that has delayed further action in removing the buildings to the south.

“The tentative agreement, then, is that the common wall will be replaced by two separate walls, unless an engineer confirms that the common wall is viable to the point that it (the structure) would be given a state permit,” Eberhard said.

Once the engineer returns with his opinion, the property owners can move ahead and the building remnants can be removed.

Eberhard said they plan to have the engineering report back in February and will hold another meeting between the town and the property owners to ensure the issue continues to move forward.